Mom Responds to Controversy Over Viral Video of Swimming Baby

Live Like Jake Foundation founder Keri Morrison discusses the background to her swimming baby video that went viral.

Live Like Jake Foundation founder Keri Morrison weighs in on the controversy over a viral video of her baby falling into a swimming pool.

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Responding to why she did not help her baby, Morrison said, “Because I knew exactly what she was gonna do. She had already been in lessons for about three weeks and she was trained to roll back and float unassisted.”

She continued, “And to be honest with you, I don’t see the fuss over the video. I think it’s amazing; Look what she’s doing,” Morrison told the FOX Business Network’s Stuart Varney about the negative reactions to the video.

Morrison discussed the training program for infants that her foundation supports.

“I have a foundation, called Live Like Jake, and we promote the ISR Infant Swimming Resource program. That program has actually been around almost 50 years,” said Morrison.

Morrison then explained what led her to support this swim training for infants.

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“My son drowned about two-and-a-half years ago while we were away and I have made it my life’s mission to not only protect my two daughters, but also children all over the world by providing scholarships to these lessons,” Morrison said.

“My son did not know, did not have these skills and he’s no longer with us.”

Morrison then responded to critics that say this kind of training could lead to psychological trauma.

“I can assure you that is very far from the truth. My other daughter Julia started the program at eight months, she’s two-and -a-half now, she loves the water, she swims like a fish. My daughter Josie –that video was taken about seven months ago – she loves the water, she is still in lessons.”

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Morrison discussed the training that babies receive to get to the point where they can float like that.

“They are taught that, they can start the skills as early as six months. The program is four to six weeks, five days a week, 10 minutes a day. It’s all muscle memory when they’re young like that. That video was not just ‘hey let’s put her on the steps and see what she does.’ She was already trained to get up to that point,” said Morrison.

Morrison talked about how training like this can potentially save a babies’ lives.

“That’s my mission: to create awareness for water safety and that there are programs out there like ISR to teach this type of method, because there’s not always going to be a wall or stairs to swim to. They need to learn the self-rescue part, to float and yell for help and breathe,” Morrison said.